Nepali women migrants make up 30% of total Nepali migrants and 90 per cent of Nepali women working abroad as domestic help are undocumented and travel to destination countries through informal channels via India, Bangladesh and recently from Sri Lanka. Nepal government has imposed various provisional bans for aspiring women migrant workers since 1990 aiming to protect women from forced labour and other forms of exploitation. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ban on national and international flights, closing of embassies and visa processing has also caused dilemmas upon prospective female migrant workers. The migrant workers whose Vissa was on the verge of expiry were also unable to get back home whereas those on the way to their destination countries were left stranded due to travel bans and closing of international flights. The COVID-19 situation hit the already disadvantaged migrant workers with a bigger blow due to the pandemic outbreak in their destination countries as well.

This is a qualitative study and in-depth Interviews were taken among 20 respondents returning from major destination countries and the aspirants of foreign employment who took the employment permit after the lockdown. Also, the key informant interviews were taken with the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Malaysia. 

The findings of this study presents the vulnerability faced by the female migrant workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of them faced job loss where as others who managed to keep their jobs faced problems like increased/decreased working hours, deferred wages, unpaid leave, abuse/ harassment etc. The undocumented female migrant workers faced multiple vulnerabilities to their situation during the pandemic as the embassies refused to assist them for returning back to their homeland. After the pandemic outbreak, despite the orders of Supreme Court, the government failed to repatriate the migrant workers. Also, the delay and limited testing and failure to maintain quarantine facility increased the risk of COVID-19 transmission as the quarantine facilities became the hotspot for the virus transmission.